'Putrajeevak' medicine row: Ramdev says herb only helps couples conceive

Kolkata: Amid the controversy over a purported ayurvedic product by yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Divya Pharmacy promising male child, Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday said the Union Health minister has asked for looking into the matter. “It is a gender issue. If you are asking for only a male child, it is illegal. The health minister has asked to look into the matter,” he said here today while reacting to the uproar in the Rajya Sabha yesterday over ‘Divya Putrajeevak Beej’ allegedly sold by Divya Pharmacy. [caption id=“attachment_2222790” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Baba Ramdev in a file photo. PTI[/caption] “However, you cannot bring this (product) under misleading advertisement. It says it guarantees a son and no one is challenging that the medicine is bad,” he said. Meanwhile Ramdev in a press conference on Friday morning said that he would not change the name of his medicine and that the uproar was a conspiracy to malign him. He said told opposition MPs “Do your homework. They are using a fakir to malign the Prime Minister,” he said.

I have always respected women: Ramdev on the uproar created over his medicine promising a male child. pic.twitter.com/jlcHsqnaWD

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According to Zee News, " Ramdev said the medicine helps a childless couple conceive and has nothing to do with sex determination of a child before birth. The yoga guru also refused to change the name of the medicine." He also said that his pharmacy, to keep away from controversy, will add a disclaimer to the medicine highlighting that it won’t help couples have a male child. “MPs who have no clue about Ayurveda should be ashamed and should apologise to the nation. The medicine (pack) does not say anywhere that it helps in producing a son,” he told a press conference in New Delhi, and demanded an apology from JD(U) MP KC Tyagi, who raised the issue in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, accusing him of resorting to “lies”. Without elaborating whether his ministry is taking any action on the medicine at a time when the NDA government was carrying out its ‘Beti Bachhao’ campaign, Paswan said if a product did not deliver what it promises only then can it be misleading. The opposition had demanded to ban the purported ayurvedic product in Rajya Sabha yesterday while terming it as illegal and unconstitutional and sought stringent action against the manufacturers. PTI